Scientists have made it possible for a man in Israel to move a robot in France just by thinking about moving.

By using an fMRI machine, which scans the brain and displays the activity in real time, paralyzed patients or people with locked-in syndrome can interact with the world using a surrogate body. New Scientist reports.

Teleoperated robots – those that can be remotely controlled by a human – have been around for decades. Kheddar and his colleagues are going a step further: “by making you feel that the thing you are embodying is part of you.”

The student could control the robot in near real time with his thoughts, while a camera on the robot's head allowed him to see from the robot's perspective. When he thought of moving his left or right hand, the robot moved 30 degrees to the left or right. Imagining moving his legs made the robot walk forward.

He was even able to instruct the robot to follow a person around a room at the French lab, and he also piloted his avatar to locate a teapot placed somewhere in the room.

The next step is to refine it with electroencephalogram (EEG) technology, which uses electrodes attached to the scalp to record electrical activity in the brain – this could work as a skull cap rather than an fMRI machine that a person has to lie in. They also intend to improve the surrogate by replacing the current robot with a more humanoid HRP-4 [video], made by Kawada Industries in Japan.